JP Morgan Chase coal issues

JP Morgan Chase coal issues is a subsection of the main SourceWatch article JP Morgan Chase.

Coal plant investments
JP Morgan Chase is a major financier of new coal plant construction. New coal-fired power plants in the U.S. being funded by the company include:


 * Hempstead (AL)
 * Plum Point Energy Station (AR)
 * Springerville Generating Station Unit 3 (AZ)
 * Springerville Generating Station Unit 3 (AZ)
 * Glades (FL)
 * Longleaf (GA)
 * Sutherland Generating Station Unit 4 (IA)
 * LS Power Elk Run Energy Station (IA)
 * Prairie State Energy Campus (IL)
 * Smith Station (KY)
 * Spurlock Power Station Unit 4 (KY)
 * Thoroughbred Generating Station (KY)
 * Little Gypsy Repowering (LA)
 * Midland Power Plant (MI)
 * Spiritwood Industrial Park (ND)
 * Mustang Energy Project (NM)
 * White Pine Energy Station (NV)
 * American Municipal Power Generating Station (OH)
 * Great Bend IGCC (OH)
 * Red Rock Generating Facility (OK)
 * Sallisaw Project (OK)
 * Marion City Project (SC)
 * Big Brown 3 (TX)
 * Lake Creek 3 (TX)
 * Martin Lake 4 (TX)
 * Monticello 4 (TX)
 * Morgan Creek 3 & 4 (TX)
 * Morgan Creek 7 (TX)
 * Oak Grove Plant (TX)
 * Sandy Creek Plant (TX)
 * Tradinghouse 3 & 4 (TX)
 * Valley 4 (TX)
 * Wise County Plant (VA)
 * Nelson Dewey Generating Facility (WI)
 * Mountaineer (WV)

Coal mine investments
JP Morgan Chase is also a major financier of coal mines, including environmentally destructive mountaintop removal (MTR) practices. In 2009, JP Morgan Chase helped finance $600 million for Arch Coal, which that year mined 4.7 million tons of coal using MTR. In 2008, JPMorgan acted as lead manager on a $690 million bond offering by Massey Energy, which leads the nation in MTR mining. Between 2000 and 2006, Massey violated the Clean Water Act more than 4,500 times by dumping sediment and leftover mining waste into rivers in Kentucky and West Virginia, the EPA said in 2008, although environmental groups say this is a conservative estimate.

According to Mother Jones:


 * "Over the past 17 years, JP Morgan Chase has helped to underwrite nearly 20 bond or loan deals, worth a combined $8.5 trillion, for some of the biggest players in the MTR mining business, according to data from Bloomberg. Other large banks have either halted financing companies engaging in the practice outright or signaled their intent to do so. In December 2008, for instance, Bank of America publicly announced plans to "phase out financing of companies whose predominant method of extracting coal is through mountain top removal."

Wells Fargo] has cut ties with coal giant [[Massey Energy. A Credit Suisse official says the bank has a "global mining policy" that ensures "we explicitly do not finance the extraction of coal in a mountaintop removal setting." But JP Morgan continues to back the practice.

By underwriting MTR, JP Morgan ties itself to some of the nation's biggest polluters ... Amanda Starbuck, who leads the Rainforest Action Network (RAN)'s global finance campaign, says that if the bank is to satisfy its critics, "Nothing less than a blanket ban of mountaintop removal by Chase will suffice."

Boston Common, Loyola University, and JP Morgan
At least two shareholder groups filed resolutions in 2010 highlighting JPMorgan’s support for mountaintop removal (MTR) mining. One of them, Boston Common Asset Management, a firm focusing on sustainable and responsible investing, called on the bank to publicly report on the impact of MTR mining by its clients, particularly Massey Energy and Arch Coal, as well as the financial impact on JPMorgan if it banned MTR financing. Boston Common later withdrew its resolution due to ongoing negotiations with JPMorgan officials, according to a Boston Common official.

The other resolution, filed by Loyola University Chicago, demands that JPMorgan adhere to a 2008 agreement that JPMorgan signed on to called the “Carbon Principles,” an effort among big banks to improve environmental disclosures and ultimately shift more funding into green, sustainable projects. The pushback from the university grew out of a visit to MTR sites in Appalachia by Loyola students, who were shocked at the devastation wrought on the landscape and surrounding communities, says Elaine Lehman, a director of corporate relations at the school.

Chicago protest (April 2010)
On Friday April 2, 2010 activists associated with RAN in Chicago staged a "die-in" at a downtown JP Morgan bank to protest the bank's investment in MTR projects. Between thirty and forty people took part in the protest. None were arrested. It was RAN's first direct action campaign to pressure the company to abandon its MTR investments.


 * "JP Morgan Chase is on the run in this campaign and they are looking for a way to end this campaign," said RAN activist Adam Gaya. "(They are seeing that) people are willing to go beyond making a phone call and sending a email [and are] canceling their account and taking direct action."